The prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert, a commoner, who was six years his senior, widowed twice and a roman catholic. Despite Maria being completely unsuitable, George was bent on walking her down the aisle. George wanted to go ahead with the marriage even though the act of settlement 1701 barred the spouse of a catholic from succeeding the throne, as well as the royal marriages act 1772, which prevented his marriage without the king consenting.
Throwing all caution to the wind, the couple got married on the 15th of December, 1785 at Maria’s house in park street, Mayfair. Legally, the marriage was void as the king’s consent was neither requested nor granted. On the other hand, Maria believed that she was George’s canonical and true wife regarding the law of the church to be greater than the law of the state. For political reasons, the marriage remained a secret and Maria promised never to reveal it.
George’s extravagant life plunged him into debt and his father declined to help him, forcing him to move from Carlton house and live at Maria’s residence. In the year 1787, George’s political allies proposed to clear his debts through a grant from parliament. The prince’s relationship with Maria was suspected and revelation of an illegal marriage would have been a scandal to the country and it sabotaged any parliamentary proposal to offer him assistance.
Under the authority of the prince, Charles James Fox, the Whig leader, declared the story as a calumny. Maria was offended by the denial in public and thought of terminating her ties to the prince. George calmed her down by asking Richard Brinsley Sheridan, another Whig, to restate fox’s forceful declaration in a more careful manner. At the same time, parliament granted the prince 161,000 pounds to pay off his debts and sixty thousand pounds for renovations of the Carlton house.
The 1788 regency crisis
In the summer of 1788, the king’s mental health deteriorated possibly due to porphyria, a hereditary disease. He was however able to perform his duties and declared parliament prorogued from the 25th of September to the 20th of November. During this time, he worsened and he became a danger to his own life, and when parliament reconvened, the king was unable to deliver the customary speech from the throne during the state opening of parliament.
Consequently, parliament found itself in a predicament, meaning no business could go on until the king delivered his speech at the state opening. Parliament began debating regency even though they were barred from doing so. In the House of Commons, Charles James Fox declared his opinion that the prince was by default entitled to exercise sovereignty when the king was incapacitated. William Pitt the younger, the prime minister at that time, strongly opposed this opinion, arguing that in the absence of a statute to the contrary, the parliament alone is the one that had a right to choose a regent.
William Pitt the younger went further and said, “the prince of wales had no more right to assume the government, than any other individual subject of the country.” Even though he disagreed with Fox on the way of transition, he concurred that the prince would be the best choice. Even though the prince was offended by the boldness that Pitt showed, he did not openly show full support to Fox’s approach.
Prince Frederick, duke of York, brother to the prince, was of the opinion that George should not try and exercise any power without parliament’s green light. After the passage of preliminary resolutions, the prime minister brought forward an elaborate plan for the regency and suggested that the prince’s powers would be limited. Additionally, the Prince of Wales would not neither be able to sell the king’s property nor offer peerage to anyone but the child of the king. The prince denounced the prime minister’s plan and declared it a product that would bring forth weakness, insecurity as well as disorder in every branch of the administration of affair. Putting the interests of the nation first, both parties agreed to compromise.
George IV’s marriage and mistresses
The prince’s debts continued to accumulate and his dad refused to aid him unless he married his cousin princess, Caroline of Brunswick. In the year 1795, the prince agreed and they tied the knot on the 8th of April, 1795 at the chapel royal, St. James palace. Their union, however, was a disaster since each party was not fit for another. The two formally separated right after the birth of their only child, princess charlotte, in 1796. They remained separated after that and the prince was still attached to Maria for the rest of his life.
Other mistresses of his were:
Mary Robinson- an actress that he bribed when she threatened to sell his letters to the press.
Grace Elliot- a divorced wife of a physician
Frances Villiers- countess of jersey
Marchioness of Hertford
Marchioness Conyngham
It was rumored that George had fathered several illegitimate kids:
James Ord- he was born in 1786, moved to the U.S.A and became a Jesuit priest. He was reportedly his son by Maria.
Captain henry A.F. Hervey- a naval officer in the West Indies, his son by a songwriter, Lady Anne Lindsay, a daughter of the fifth earl of Balcarres.
Major George Seymour Crole- son of theater manager’s daughter Eliza Crole or Fox
William Hampshire-son of publican’s daughter, Sarah brown
Charles candy- son of a Frenchwoman
However, the director of research t the society of genealogists, Anthony camp, dismissed rumors that the prince was a dad to Ord, Hervey, Hampshire and Candy.
In the year 1804, a dispute arose over the custody of Princess Charlotte and she had to be placed under the care of her grandpa, King George the third. This further led to a parliamentary commission of enquiry into Princess Caroline’s conduct after George IV accused her of having an illegitimate kid. Caroline was cleared of the charge but her behavior was revealed to be indiscreet.
Regency
In the year 1810, King George the third was once again overwhelmed by his malady after the death of his youngest daughter, Princess Amelia. Parliament agreed to follow the precedent of 1788. Without the king’s consent, the Lord Chancellor affixed the great seal of the realm to letters patent naming lords commissioners.
The letters patent lacked the royal sign manual but were sealed upon request of resolutions passed by both houses of parliament. Parliament restricted some of the powers of the prince regent. The constraints expired twelve months after the passage of the act and the Prince of Wales became the prince regent on the 5th of February, 1811.
The regent let his ministers take full charge of the government’s affairs, playing a far lesser role as compared to his dad. The principle, that the prime minister was the person supported by a majority in the House of Commons, whether the king favored him personally or not, was established. His government, with minimal help from the regent, presided over the policy of Britain.
One of the most notable political conflicts that faced Britain was about the catholic emancipation; the movement that aimed to relieve the Roman Catholics of various political disabilities. Led by the prime minister, spencer Perceval, the Tories were opposed to this emancipation while the Whigs were for it. When the regency started, George IV was expected to support the Whig leader, William Grenville, first baron Grenville; however, he immediately put Lord Grenville and the Whigs in office. Under his mother’s influence, he claimed that a sudden dismissal of the tory government would exact a great toll on the king’s health, who was a strong supporter of the Tories, thereby eliminating any chance of recovery.
In 1812, when it was highly unlikely that the king would be better, George IV again failed to appoint a new Whig government. Instead, he urged the Whigs to join the existing ministry under Perceval. Unfortunately, the Whigs refused to co-operate due to the disagreements over the emancipation of Catholics. George IV allowed Perceval to continue as the premier.
On the 10th of May, 1812, Perceval was assassinated by John Bellingham. The prince regent was ready to reappoint all members of the Perceval ministry under a new leader. The House of Commons formally declared its interest for a strong and efficient
government. Consequently, the prince then offered leadership of the government to Richard Wellesley, first Marquess Wellesley, and later on to Francis Rawdon-Hastings, the second earl of Moira.
The prince regent forced each of the leaders to have an all-party ministry at a time when neither party was willing to share power. Using the failures of the two leaders as pretext, George IV reappointed the Perceval administration with Robert Jenkinson, the second earl of Liverpool, as the prime minister.
Unlike the Whigs, the Tories sought to go on with the vicious prosecution of the war in continental Europe against the powerful emperor of France, Napoleon I.
The reign of George IV
When King George the third died in 1820, the prince regent, then aged 57, took over the throne as George IV, with no real change in his powers. By this time, he was obese and had a possible addiction to laudanum. His relationship with his wife had also deteriorated and they had lived separately since 1796, with both of them having affairs.
In 1814, Caroline left the United Kingdom for continental Europe even though she opted to return for George’s coronation and to publicly assert her rights as queen consort. Unfortunately, George refused to recognize Caroline as queen and ordered the British ambassadors to make sure that monarchs in foreign courts followed suit. By royal order, her name was excluded from the Book of Common Prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England.
George sought divorce but he was advised that proceedings related to divorce would most likely involve publication of details relating to his own illicit relationships. As a result, he requested and made sure that the pains and penalties bill was introduced. Under this bill, parliament could have imposed legal penalties without trial.
This bill had the ability to annul their marriage and strip Caroline of the title of queen. Since the bill didn’t go down well with the public, it was withdrawn from parliament. Despite all this, George IV nonetheless went ahead and excluded his wife from his coronation at Westminster abbey, on the 19th of July, 1821. That same day, Caroline fell ill and died on the 7th of august. During her final days, she always stated that she thought she had been poisoned.
The coronation of George was a glamorous and expensive event that cost 243,000 pounds as compared to his dad’s that cost about ten thousand pounds. In 1821, George became the first monarch to pay a visit to the state of Ireland, after Richard the second of England. The following year, he visited Edinburgh.
In his later years on the throne, George spent most of his time secluded at Windsor castle but continued to intervene in politics. Initially, it was believed that he would support the catholic emancipation as he had proposed a catholic emancipation bill for Ireland in 1797. However, his anti- catholic opinion became clear in 1813 when he privately canvassed against the greatly defeated catholic relief bill of 1813.
By 1824, George was publicly denouncing catholic emancipation. During his coronation, he took an oath to uphold the protestant faith, and this was his reason for not supporting any pro-catholic measures. The influence of the king was great, and the will of the Tories under Prime Minister Lord Liverpool so strong that the emancipation of Catholics seemed impossible. However, in 1827, Lord Liverpool retired and was replaced by pro-emancipation Tory, George canning.
Canning’s views on the catholic issue never went well with most conservative Tories, including the duke of wellington. Consequently, the ministry was forced to involve Whigs. After canning’s death later that year, the Tory-Whig coalition was left in the hands of Frederick Robinson, the first viscount Goderich. Lord Goderich vacated office in 1828 and was succeeded by the duke of wellington who had accepted the fact that denial of some measure to Roman Catholics was politically untenable.
George was never as friendly with Wellington as he had been with Canning. Even though it was not easy, Wellington managed to make the king consent to the introduction of a catholic relief bill on the 29th of January, 1829. Under pressure from his anti-Catholic brother, the king withdrew his approval and in protest the cabinet resigned en masse on the 4th of March. The following day, under maximum pressure, the king agreed to the bill and the ministry remained in power. Finally, royal assent was granted to the catholic relief act on the 13th of April.
His decline and demise
The king’s heavy drinking and indulgent lifestyle had done damage to his health by the late 1820’s. While he was still the prince, George had become overweight due to his several parties and heavy drinking. By 1797, George’s weight had reached 111 kilos. By 1824, his waist was fifty inches and he suffered from gout, arteriosclerosis, peripheral edema and possible porphyria.
During his last years, George spent days in bed and he suffered shortness of breath that would leave him half-suffocating. By December 1828, just like his dad, he was almost completely blind from cataracts and he suffered severe gout in his right hand and arm that he was unable to sign documents.
I the mid-1829, Sir David Willkie reported the king’s condition and explained how obese he was. The king also took laudanum to counter severe bladder pains which made him high and mentally incapacitated for days. In September 1829, he underwent surgery to remove a cataract. By 1830, his weight had reached 130 kilos. The spring of 1830 signaled the king’s end. Breathlessness made him sleep upright on a chair and doctors had to drain excess fluid from his tummy. In May, he managed to dictate his will. On the morning of 26th June, 1830, at around half past three, George died at Windsor castle.
An autopsy was done and it was discovered that he died from upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to a blood vessel rapturing in his stomach. A large tumor the size of an orange was also found attached to his bladder, his heart was enlarged and had heavily calcified valves far from being surrounded by large deposits of fat. George was buried in St. George’s chapel at Windsor castle on 15th July.
The king’s only legitimate child, princess charlotte of wales, had died after delivering a still born child in 1817. The second son of George the third, Prince Frederick, the duke of York and Albany, had died childless in 1827. So, the succession was passed on to the third son of George the third, Prince William, duke of Clarence, who became king as William IV.
His legacy
George’s last years were notably full of his physical as well as mental deterioration and he withdrew from affairs of the public. George IV was described as the first gentleman of England due to his style and manners. He had many desirable qualities; he was clever, knowledgeable and bright. However, his laziness and greed made him waste much of his talent.
The regency period saw him shift in fashion after his political opponents imposed a tax on wig powder, making him stop wearing a powdered wig in favor of his natural hair. He also wore darker garments to disguise his size. He further opted for trousers over knee breeches because they were not as fitting, and made the high collar with neck cloth popular because it hid is double chin.
George’s visit to Scotland in 1822 led to the revival of the Scottish tartan dress. In the House of Lords, he was eulogized as the most accomplished man of his age; his knowledge and talent were praised.
There are several statues of George the fourth, a large number of which were put up when he was a king:
In the UK, a bronze statue of George on a horseback in Trafalgar square and another outside the royal pavilion in Brighton
In Edinburgh, the George IV bridge
QUEEN VICTORIA
(QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND)
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Interesting facts about Queen Victoria
Chapter 2
Victoria’s early reign
Chapter 3
Victoria’s marriage
Chapter 4
Victoria’s life as a widow
Conclusion
Some random notes from Queen Victoria’s diary
Queen Victoria - Introduction
Victoria lived between 24th May, 1819 and 22nd January 1901, a
nd she was at the reign of the United Kingdom and Ireland between 20th June 1837 and her demise. Additionally, she also adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria’s dad was Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George the third. Victoria’s dad and grandad both passed on in 1820 and Victoria was brought up by her mum, Princess Victoria.
When she hit eighteen, Victoria became the queen after her three uncles died, leaving behind no legitimate children. By this time, the United Kingdom was a constitutional monarchy already set up and the sovereign had no much direct power politically. Victoria privately tried to influence the policies of government as well as ministerial appointments. However in public, the queen was the national icon associated with exemplary standards related to personal morality.
In 1840, she tied the knot with her first cousin, Prince Albert. They had nine children, all of whom were married into royalty and nobility across the content. This earned her the title of being Europe’s grandma. In 1861, Victoria’s husband died and she went into a severe phase of mourning and grief which made her avoid public appearances. Consequently, she gave room for republicanism but her popularity soared again in the final half of her reign.
Victoria reigned for 63 years and seven months (Victorian era), and she ruled longer than any of her predecessors. Her era was marked by changes in the industrial, cultural, political as well as scientific spheres, far from the great expansion of the British Empire.
Chapter 1
Interesting facts about Queen Victoria
Confusion, Confession and Conviction Page 20